JOPPA, MARYLAND -- So my wife received a bonus check for 30000.00 dollars. We deposited into the ATM at the Joppa, Maryland location. We looked at our bank account online the next day and noticed they approved then denied the deposit. We called the branch and asked why they denied the deposit, the manager stated that the amount of the check was too large to deposit through the ATM. We asked where the check was they said we don't know because are ATM's are not serviced by the branch. They said that the checks are picked up daily then shipped or mailed to the Phoenix Arizona location.

They said we need to call the customer service number to find out any more information. So we called customer service and they said that they had received our check and we would get a letter explaining that they have the check and would be mailing the original or a legal copy of the check. We called other branches emailed complaints for days. Then we talked to a manager at another branch and he said that The customer service reps read that line from a script(we have received your check and will be mailing it out in 7-10 business days).

So after calling and calling and complaining we finally received a call from a representative from the department in charge of receiving the checks. The representative said Ms Jones I am sorry but we have lost your check. We have been looking for it since you called customer service 11 days ago. We have searched all the bags from your county ATM locations and we cannot find the check. We are very sorry he said.

So this gentlemen said he would make it right by mailing us a negotiable copy that we could cash anywhere without any issue. The copy was sent FedEx over night delivery. When we received it it was a copy on a piece of paper printed from a regular printer. Just a scanned copy from when it was deposited via the ATM. Bank Of America is the worst bank in the World. There customer service is terrible, they lie and will tell you what you want to hear.

I advise anyone banking with them to close there accounts and seek better service at PNC or Wells Fargo.

Jill: Hello! Thank you for being a valued Bank of America customer! My name is Jill. May I have your complete name please?

You: Marc

Jill: Hi Marc. How may I assist you with your personal checking and savings account today ?

You: Fee dispute

Jill: I certainly understand your question regarding the fee. I will be more than happy to check that for you.

Jill: May I have the last four digits of your account please? 1

You: xxxx

Jill: Thank you.

You: Certainly

Jill: If I understand you correctly, you would like to dispute overdraft fee from your account is that right?

You: Correct

You: Well it is an extended balance fee

Jill: As I have checked on your account, I see that you got overdraft fee for a transaction amount if $620 which is an online banking transfer to your account xxxx when he only balance on your account was $585.30.

Jill: For each time we determine your account is overdrawn by any amount and continues to be overdrawn for five or more consecutive business days, we will charge an Extended Overdrawn Balance Charge of $35.

You: I understand this

Jill: Yes thank you for understanding the process, however, as I see here that there was a previous refund last 2/21/12, we are unable to process any further refund. I apologize however, the fee was assessed correctly on your account.

You: You're fee made the account negative. Then you charged a fee on the fee. That is deceptive business and gouging. I wanted to have this conversation before I pursue further action.

Jill: Once you overdrawn your account pay the fee prior to its 5th business day to avoid getting extended overdraft fee on your account.

You: The account was overdrawn because of a fee. You can't then charge a fee on the fee. That's preposterous.

Jill: Marc, you were assessed overdraft fee of $35 for your transfer made $620 to you other checking account, and, that overdraft fee remained on your account for 5th business day due to which you got charged extended overdraft fee for that overdraft fee assessed on the transfer made.

Jill: If you overdraw your account, repay the total amount you are overdrawn as quickly as possible and prior to the fifth business day you are overdrawn to avoid this fee in the future.

You: And you did not refund this fee. You refunded another fee that was erroneous to begin with, which is why you refunded it. Then you charged another fee to get your refund back.

You: That transfer was made when there was money in the account to cover the transfer. Otherwise I wouldn't have transferred that amount.

You: You then stuck the fee in there as if it had occurred before the transfer. Making the transfer for more than what was "available".

Jill: Let me explain the transaction on your account.

You: Then you refunded that fee, because of the ridiculousness of it. Then followed the fee with another on the same lateness. Of course I didn't have the money to put in there. Otherwise I wouldn't have been charged the fee to begin with.

You: I just explained it to you, what is the point of you explaining it again?

Jill: I will explain why the fee was assessed.

Jill: Last 2/8/12, the balance on your account was only $0.40

Jill: Then,

Jill: Last 2/16 there was a transaction for Educational Comp for amount of $182.65

Jill: Due to which your balance went -$182.64 correct?

Jill: Then,

You: Then my check went in

You: before the fee that you are about to say went in there

Jill: You made deposit of $802.91 last 2/17/12 which your balance went to positive $620.30 right?

You: Then I transferred, then the fee

You: Then a second fee for the transfer

You: Then this fee for the extended balance fee

Jill: yes, I would like to inform you that your transaction for $182.65 was an ACH, and all ACH transaction posted on account when there is insufficient funds will incur overdraft fee.

Jill: Yes.

Jill: Then, the balance went below $585.30 before you made the transfer of $620.

You: No it was not

You: It was 620

Jill: That fee was refunded 2/21/12 for your ACH transaction.

You: Otherwise I would have only transferred 585

Jill: Then, you have been charged again overdraft fee for your transfer made $620

Jill: During nightly processing, we process all credits before we present any debits to the account. All debits are then processed from the highest dollar amount to the lowest dollar amount, according to the transaction type, even if they create a negative balance.

You: You do that so that you can get more fees. That is why you process them first.

Jill: I understand why you feel that way. Based on our experience, we believe that many customers prefer that we place priority on their largest transactions when the balance in their account cannot cover all their transactions. This may enable us to pay more important items, such as mortgage or car payments.

You: That has been proved in court to be an unfair business practice.

You: You need to stop using this policy. Or if it is making enough money to keep doing, refund the customers who call you on it.

Jill: I am really sorry if you are frustrated about the fees assessed on your account.

You: Look at the history, your institution has charged me thousands over the years. You might as well refund me so that you can continue to collect, rather than reject my request, and force me to get a different bank to get all that additional revenue.

You: Its just a smart business move.

Jill: Yes Marc, you have been charged overdraft fees on your account several times and we have refunded fees on your account as courtesy. I please suggest you to monitor your account balance to avoid getting overdraft fees in future. I know that paying fees is frustrating however, those fees was assessed correctly and the agreement on fees was included on your personal disclosure when you opened the account.

Jill: If there is anything that I may assist you with please let me know.

You: Refund of erroneous fee.

Jill: I understand however, I am really sorry that fees cannot be refunded and it was assessed correctly.

You: Unfair business practices. I hope you hurry up and settle on this lawsuit. This conversation will be put online and this practice of the extended overdrawn balance fee will also be deemed unfair business practice. I embarrassed that you are allowed to be called bank of America. It should be Bank of Thieves.

You: Does it say in my account documents that you can charge a fee since I am unable to pay on a previous fee?

You: And the fifteen dollars you charge monthly? Is that another fee?

Jill: Marc, again, we sincerely apologize. The fee disclosure agreement was provided and you were informed about those when you opened the account, and the monthly maintenance fee of $12 was also included.

You: No, when I opened the account, there was no monthly fee. And the overdraft fee was $15. And there was no extended overdrawn fee. This was all added later.

Jill: I can send you the Personal Schedule of Fees so that you can have check all fees associated on your account.

Jill:

You: Yes, please do.

Jill: Sure.

Jill: Please click here.

You: Will it say that if you are unable to pay on one of our fees, we will give you another one?

Last text message received Jill: Yes that is included.

You: Highly unlikely.

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Holds Checks when they feel like it....charges too many fees

Posted by ckennedy124 on 01/21/2006

COLUMBIA, MISSOURI -- My husband and I have been BoA customers for 10 years now. My husband had worked the same TV job for 10 years as well and gets direct deposit of over $900 every two weeks. The bank in my area knows us and calls us by first name when we come in and we never had a problem until the last couple years. I agree with other people here that BoA waits until items come through on your account before depositing money. We use online bill pay and set up our bills to go out on the date my husband's direct deposit comes in. They sometimes let the bills go through first and THEN credit the direct deposit. When the direct deposit comes in it shows up in the pending but is available to us that morning at around 3AM. At around 5PM that same day, the pending part shows the bills are paid AFTER the deposit is there but, amazingly, not when posted. How can this be when they had my husbandÃ¢ÂÂs money at 3AM and did not send bills until 5PM that day?? Then they charge $19-$34 for overdraft on EACH payment!!

I also agree with the poster who talked about his stop payment not working with his landlord after 6 months. I had paid insurance agent money for a home and auto policy and then found he was a fraud. I called the bank that day to put a stop payment on the check and was charged the $28 fee. BoA let the check go through anyway and I had to spend two days getting my money back. All because this guy went online, pretending to be us, to open a home and auto policy. He then used our check to do an online transaction and the bank said that was a different story than a check. I ended up having the fraud department reverse the charges and I got my $28 stop payment fee back AND my money!!! Keep bugging this bank and talk to people higher and higher until its fixed. Don't bother talking to a LOCAL branch manager because they care less.

My "last straw" was on Jan 17th 2006. In Dec I got a check from my mother (hand written) for $100 on Christmas. She lives out of town and DOES NOT use BoA. I deposited this money by way of ATM. The money went through and was available that same day. We had only $5 in our account at the time. This is important as you will see later. Mind you, we have been customers for 10 years now.

On Jan 17th 2006, I got a check from my college, DeVry, for a little over $800. It was from excess financial aid and I get these a few times a year. BoA local should know this by now. I set up for some bills to go out the next day (online), thinking the money would be there on the day I put the money in the bank. I then went to the ATM to deposit the check but found I had forgotten a pen to sign the bank of the check. I then parked and walked into the bank with my 12 year old. A couple main bank people there said "Hi, Christina, we havenÃ¢ÂÂt seen you in a while!" I said I was busy with school and such and went up to the counter to deposit the signed check. The teller knew me and never asked for ID. I stated that I wanted to deposit the check in my checking account. She then said she could not deposit the money. I asked why not? She stated that it was an out of state check and I only had $30 in my account to cover it. She also said that it looks like you NEVER have deposited this much money in your account before. I was VERY ticked and said "EXCUSE ME? My husband gets over $900 every two weeks for the last 10 years into this account! How do you think we pay for everything!!! I also just deposited $100 with a PERSONAL check and only had $5 in my account. You let that go through!!" She said she was sorry and had been looking at the wrong screen. She then said I would have to talk to the branch manager, Jennifer, to get this taken care of.

Jennifer came over, made a face at me.....HELD THE CHECK TO THE LIGHT like it was a bad check!!! and asked me if I get these checks often. I told her that I get refund checks every once in a while and they can even look on the account and see. She then said she would deposit the money but I can't have access to it until Jan 25th AND even then, I can only have $774.31 of it. I said "WHAT!!! You've NEVER does this to me before! What happens to the other $100 of the $874.31???? She said she would release that later but gave no date. I told her that I better have ALL the money there or we go to small claims court and let a judge decide. She said, "Look I will call your school's bank on the 20th and if the fund look like they will clear; I will release the money to you....all of it." I said OK.

I then went home to complain about my treatment to the main branch and those people said there was nothing they could do and that it was THIS managerÃ¢ÂÂs discretion to place a hold on the account and NOT theirs. They refused to help.

I then called my school on the 20th to see if cleared their end and told them what this woman is doing with their money. My school looked at THEIR bank's website and saw that BoA HAD received the money and it had cleared their end. They were so upset with my bank that they called my bank of three way. My bank told my school official that they had found that the money was set to clear but she was not releasing the money until the 25th. My school official then said, " Let me get this straight...You're saying it's your discretion to take the hold off for this woman? And, even though OUR bank's website shows you have our money, you will not release the hold??" My bank said yes. My bank then said they would be nice and maybe release the money on the 23rd instead. My school official then said to my bank that they would call back on Monday to make sure it was done. When my school official and I got off the phone with my bank; the official said this was ridiculous and that I should change banks. I then reminded my official that the bank manager that she just talked to had promised to release the funds on the 20th if the check had cleared. This official said she would NEVER bank there after what she just heard. I told her we were opening up another account at another bank and as soon as my husbands direct deposit starts going to the new bank; we are closing this one.

The story is not over. I see on my account that the money has posted but I have no access to it as of the 21st. I also saw, online, that all the bills I paid with their online bill pay went through (5 of them) and I had 5, $34 charges on my account and one bounced check. I then called the bank to complain again and only got two of the $34 charges reversed! My account shows I have about $775 in there but my available balance is a negative $20.54!!!!!!

If the check is not available to me by the 24th I am taking this to court. I also told the main bank that I would be closing my account soon for these actions. They shot me an email asking how they could keep us as customers and that we have been such good customers with them for a long time BLAH BLAH BLAH. I shot them an email back and said, Ã¢ÂÂYou can start by releasing my funds to me that have cleared my schoolÃ¢ÂÂs bank ALREADY!!! I have yet to hear back from them.

This "bank" can kiss my butt and I am going to bank with USAA who has NO fees at all...even free checks for life and ATM use at other, NON USAA ATMS. I will earn interest on my checking account and have a MasterCard Check card that will earn cash back on my purchases. I get MANY more GREAT offers with USAA checking and already have them for my auto and home. I should have gone with USAA before! Watch out with BoA!!! They are horrible people!

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Nightmare Modification

Posted by Mary on 10/08/2012

Rating: 1/51

NORTH CAROLINA -- I lost my job of 10 years in November of 2008. My husband and I discussed the modification and decided to start the process in October of 2009. I filed out applications to be denided for months this went on until I had a lady from Bank of America tell me that I would never be approved until I am 90 days behind. I was only 60 days. So I made myself 90 days behind and yep I was approved. I received my trial payments in the end of October and made them Nov, Dec and Jan and started my new payment in Feb of 2011. Everything was going just fine until June of 2011 when I received a letter stating I owed almost 900.00 in escrow. I calle BAC and stated that this was added in on the modification and I was told no this I had to pay extra. So my payment went from 703.91 to 784.57 until the 900.00 was paid off. In Dec of 2011 I got a letter in the mail from BAC stating that they have not received my payments from Sept, Oct and Nov of 2011 and if I didn't bring my account current in Dec of 2011 they would start foreclosure proceedings on my house. I called the next morning and found out that all the money I have been paying all year long had been going into another account and not being appled to my mortgage. Almost 10,00.00 dollars. In the next couple days I got some Fedex letter in the mail and the last one I got stated that there was errors int he first modification and that a new correct set of mod papers would be sent out soon. I got those papers in Jan of 2012 signed and norterized them and sent them off. Made my payments about four months later I got a letter in the mail from BAC stating there was errors in the last modification and I would receive another set of correct papers and I did sighned them and sent them off.

I am shut down at BAC, what I mean by that is when I call and punch in my Acct number I am sent directly to my customer service manager which never answers her phone. I leave a message and when she does call me back she never has any answers for my questions. My payment over the last three years went from 703.91 to 784.57 to 720.18 and now current it went up to 875.22. My interest rate started at 6.25 went to 5.25 to 4.78 and now its 6.5. I am terrified I am going to loose my home because BAC is not doing the right thing. Every time they made a error on the modification my partial claim went up a 1000.00 or more dollars. I shouldn't be charged for their mistakes. I can't get anywhere with BAC it has been 3 years this month and the nightmare continues.

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Bank of America is sharing/selling your personal data

Posted by MCorona on 10/12/2010

Bank of America shares or/and sells personal data of their customers with 3rd party scam telemarketers.

They're trying to sell BoA's products like "credit monitoring", "credit reports" and "credit protection programs" by calling you 6-10 times a day.

They won't take no for an answer. They just keep calling - if you're not interested, they will simply increase # of calls. After complaining (5 emails and 2 calls to BoA) the # of calls per day went from 5-6 to more than 12 (so far today)!!

But don't blame the telemarketers - it's all Bank of America trying to make some extra money by 1) selling leads (your personal data) and 2) collecting $$$ for the "product". Bank of America should be renamed to "Scam of America" - those people are pure evil. If you want them to stop selling/sharing your info - you have to fill out a privacy form buried deep inside their website and then wait 12 weeks to be processed. Of course by then your data will be available to 100's of scammers so it's pretty much all pointless.

If you're complaining, Bank of America will simply ignore you - you're nothing to them. They don't care as long as they make money of you. All you get is "fill out this form" and "wait 12 weeks before we stop selling your private info to scammers/spammers".

Canceling your relationship with Scam of America won't fix this problem - if you're not their customer anymore, they will just go all out and sell pretty much everything they can about you to all kinds of criminals.

So if you're already a client of this scam company - there's no way out.
If not - STAY AWAY!

UPDATE: more than 20 different CSM people in Bank of America told me they're NOT SHARING ANY personal data with anyone outside the bank. But 1 of them finally stopped lying - here's my chat transcript with Lore.

Chat Information
Welcome to an online Small Business chat session at Bank of America. Please hold while we connect you to the next available Small Business Specialist. Your chat may be monitored and recorded for quality purposes. You are number 1 in a queue of 1. Thank you for your patience.

Chat Information
You are now chatting with Lore.

Welcome to Bank of America. How can I help you complete your online application today?
Lore: Welcome to our Small Business Chat where I will be happy to help you find the best accounts to fit your business needs. I can help you open your business checking and savings account. How can I help you to get started today?

You: Hi. I'd like to know what kind of personal data are you sharing with 3rd party companies.
Lore: We do not share any personal data to 3rd party companies.
You: Well that's a lie isn't it?
You: Even your own privacy policy says you do
You: After giving you my phone number - I'm getting 10+ calls a day from your telemarketers.
Lore: We only share it with our own company.
Lore: I am so sorry to hear that.
You: Again it's a lie - you are sharing with 3rd party companies. Let me find it for you
You: Bank of America may share Customer Information we collect from you online with our family of companies and with companies that work for us. All non-affiliated companies that act on our behalf and receive Customer Information from us are contractually obligated to keep the information we provide to them confidential and to use the Customer Information we share only to provide the services we ask them to perform. These companies may include financial service providers such as payment processing companies, and nonfinancial companies..... blah blah
Lore: May I ask, is it a personal account or business account?
You: Would you please answer my question?
Lore: We do not have the system to view account information within these chat sessions.
Lore: As stated, we ONLY share information with the companies we work with like our vendors for checks.
Lore: We do not provide it to the other companies that does not have anything to do with us. This is what I have mentioned earlier.
You: You said you're NOT sharing any information with 3rd party companies
Lore: Yes, that is right.
You: What about "non-affiliated companies that act on our behalf and receive Customer Information from us"?
Lore: We share it because they need it to process the product BUT NOT TO call you and sell to you.
You: So basically you're saying your privacy policy is a lie?
Lore: All non-affiliated companies that act on our behalf and receive Customer Information from us are contractually obligated to keep the information we provide to them confidential and to use the Customer Information - we share only to provide the services we ask them to perform
Lore: Again, it says, to provide the service we ask them, and not to sell.
You: OK finally we're getting somewhere - so you're in fact sharing information with 3rd party companies such as scam telemarketers to sell you products like credit reports, insurance etc?
Lore: We provide it to them to PROVIDE THE SERVICE we ask them and not to sell to you.
You: OK doesn't matter. You answered my question - Bank of America IS sharing customer data with 3rd party companies. Thanks. Now - what kind of data?
Lore: Names, address, telephone number.
Lore: please click her to set your privacy choices
You: Well I did that already, but apparently it takes 12 weeks to process it and by then more and more scam companies will get my personal data from you and probably will sell it to another 100s of scumbags.
You: Alright. So here's how it works: you take your customer's personal data and share it with some telemarketing companies - you ask them to call your customers 10-12 times a day and keep calling even they're not interested. Is that right?
Lore: I will be right with you.
Chat InformationChat session has been terminated by the site operator. - I guess Lore got owned by her boss. :(

OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA -- PLEASE READ, WE HAVE TO TAKE A STAND AGAINST PEOPLE LIKE THIS!!! I know its a page and a half but its important! I recently decided to purchase a home. I am 21 years old and had a difficult childhood throughout my entire life. I have been on my own since the age of 15 and until I was 18 I was living in some pretty bad apartment complexes that would let me do cash month to month leases.

I have a great job now which I love more than anything in my life and I am successful and make about 35,000/ year. (Which at 21 I feel very lucky to have, especially in this sort of economic crisis we are in!) Anyway, I am having to do an FHA loan through Wells Fargo because of my debt to income ratio. Wells Fargo has been great through the process but because it is FHA I have to have COMPLETELY VERIFIABLE funds. Well, I decided to sell my motorcycle, which was paid off, in order to have the money I needed for my down payment and closing costs. I sold my motorcycle for $7000.00. I received a check for this amount and deposited it into my Bank Of America account, which I have had for ALMOST two years. (One year, 10 months) They told me because the balance in my account couldn't cover the check they would put a hold on it and half of it would be available after two days and the other half after four. (Deposited on the 20th, supposed to be half cleared by the 22nd!) I agreed and deposited the check. Two days went by and I didn't see the Pending turn into a POSTED deposit.

I waited another day to see if maybe there was a small hold up....well turns out they decided to put an "extra" hold on it. I called them and they said there was nothing they could do and that the extra hold would be until the 29th (it was supposed to be half cleared on the 22nd!) When I won the bid on the house I had previously asked the seller to give me a bit of time to sell this motorcycle so that I could have the down payment and closing cost up front instead of getting down payment assistance and he reluctantly agreed and my extension was until the 24th!!!! So here it was the 23rd and I had until 5 pm the next day to put my earnest money and down payment etc down so that Wells Fargo could have time for FHA to verify my funds.

I went to the local bank who the check originated from first then I went into a local branch of BANK OF AMERICA on the 23rd and I took with me a copy of the ***CLEARED CHECK AND STATEMENT FROM THE BANK WHO WROTE IT SAYING IT HAD CLEARED THE DAY BEFORE IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE RELEASED BY BOA.*** (The 22nd!!!!!!!!) Despite the fact that I had this paperwork, they needed to call the other bank and verify. Which they did. They talked to a manager there, and he personally faxed them a copy of the cleared check and a statement ON A LETTERHEAD FROM THAT BANK saying the check had cleared and could not come back for any reason. The girls at bank of America called their boss, their bosses boss, etc and I was there for about 2 hours. Despite all of this information they "could not" release the hold on this check. I had not had a backup plan at this point so I asked the seller for another extension for another few days.

He refused because someone else bid on this house two days after him giving me my extension and I lost it. I had gone through everything, the entire paperwork process, getting my taxes, pay stubs, employment verification, home inspection, termite inspection, appraisal fees had been paid etc. And here it is late October and there is no way for me to find another house, get all of the process done AGAIN before the $8000.00 tax credit expires, etc. I have lost the house I completely fell in love with, that I have worked for years to own, and that I truly feel like I deserved. I have worked so hard to have a better life than my family provided me with when I was young and Bank of America has taken that from me. I lost the house I loved, the house that was best for me. It had everything I wanted in a house! I lost the opportunity to take advantage of the $8000.00 tax credit, and I have lost the joy and excitement of owning my first home. Oh and by the way.......the hold is still on the check. So thanks a lot bank of America. I am glad to know that you guys care so much about Americans. In my opinion, they make INTEREST off things like this and that's probably why they do it. It breaks my heart to know that I have cried all day over this damn house and someone who gets paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year will never know the pain I feel right now knowing how hard I have worked for this house, how hard I worked to buy that motorcycle that I loved but was willing to give up so I could have a nice place to live and to have the deposit I needed to put down WITHOUT GETTING DOWN PAYMENT ASSISTANCE BECAUSE I THOUGHT THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO MIGHT NEED IT MORE THAN ME AND WHEN I HAVE A LUXURY ITEM LIKE A MOTORCYCLE I DIDN'T THINK IT WOULD BE FAIR TO TAKE ASSISTANCE FROM PEOPLE, how hard I worked for the money I already paid the realtor to hold this house for me, the money I paid for home inspections and termite inspections and appraisals, and how badly I dreamed of owning my own home. They have completely ruined this experience and I have never been more depressed.

I looked at 38 houses and found one that was functionable for me, only 93000, which I could afford a payment on, and that I truly loved and thought I could live in for a long time. Now its someone else's and unless I start this entire process over again, AFTER THE CHECK HAS CLEARED, I won't get a house anytime soon. Not to mention that interest rates have gone up two weeks in a row and every article I have read says they will go up again in November. Thank you Bank Of America, you really do serve the American people don't you? My hope in good people and the "American dream" has suffered quite a bit today. So now I will go to sleep, and wait for my check to clear, WHICH DESPITE THE LETTER HEAD STATING IT HAS CLEARED THE OTHER BANK, THE COPY OF THE CLEARED CHECK, THE OTHER MANAGERS AT THE OTHER BANK TELLING YOU IT CLEARED, AND ALL OF THE OTHER PAPERWORK I HAD, YOU STILL CANNOT RELEASE THE HOLD. Its such a shame that customer service in my opinion no longer exists! Especially at a company that calls themselves BANK OF AMERICA! I lost my house because of you. Thanks a lot.

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Beware of Bank of America

Posted by Lil1428 on 01/16/2009

NEW YORK -- I am writing to warn everyone to steer clear from Bank of America. I have dealt with many banks and this one appears to be taking full advantage of the economic crisis. A year ago, I applied for a loan. The representative from Bank of America talked me into getting a line of credit instead of a conventional loan on the premise that as I pay down my balance my line of credit would become available for use when I needed it. I agreed and applied for the line of credit. Upon receiving the line, I notice the loan amount was greater than we agreed upon on the telephone. Also the pay back terms were for 90 months. When I called to change the terms they claimed I could not change the terms until I made good faith payments for 6 months. They claim the extra funds included fees. I called back 6 months later they told me I would have to make good faith payments for a year. So here I am paying back a line of credit for the amount of $39,500.00 at 15% interest. I was very upset because I am paying over $400.00 in finance charges. To make matter worse, I am on a school teachers salary. As the economy began to tank and the cost of living went up, as gas prices increased, I like many Americans began to struggle. However, I was never late on my payments and in fact I was paying more than the minimum payment monthly ($718.00). I still noticed that the balance was not budging because my payments were not being applied to the principle.

Here is when the story goes wrong. After paying for over a year, I wanted to access available funds to free up some cash. I called Bank of America asking that they deposit some available funds into my account. The unprofessional representative informed me that I would not be able to access my available funds unless I had a cosigner. I was calling from a Bank of America branch so I explained I would have to call when I got home. I was confused and upset and did not want to make a scene at the bank. I was confused, I had been paying as agreed and now I needed the funds. As I previously noted, I was sold on the premise that this loan would come in handy when I was short on cash. I also had blank checks that I had just received in the mail from Bank of America. The checks were good until December 31st and they clearly stated access checks for your line of credit account. After calling back, another representative told me that it was explained in the previous conversation that the credit line had been dropped from $39.5000.00 to $34,500.00 due to my outstanding debt.

I told the representative no that is inaccurate, that I was never informed of that. I explained how I had access checks and perhaps if I never would have called (obviously trying to do the right thing) I would have had my funds deposited with no questions asked. This representative insisted that I was informed on Dec 17th of the decrease in my credit and there was nothing left to discuss. I preceded to plead the facts and asked to speak to a supervisor and the representative hung up on me. I called back and asked for a supervisor. This supervisor was just as unprofessional as the representative and even refused to give me his name and the person's name whom I conversed with on December 17th. They insisted they had hefty notes on my account from that December 17 conversation, so I asked them to give me the reps name.

They refused so I hung up and called back and requested another Supervisor. This time I explained that I would be contacting my councilman to inform him of what appeared to be fraudulent business practice. I also stated I would be contacting their corporate branch and share holders and required a corporate address. This supervisor did provide his name but explained he did not know the corporate address. He also conceded that the line of credit was not dropped prior to my call ( as the second representative indicated )but in fact after my initial phone call on December 17th. He informed me that my phone call prompted them to run a credit check on me and based on that report they reduced my available credit. I asked how could they do that without informing me in writing and how could they do that if I have been paying as agreed.

I have never defaulted or paid late. Yes it is true my debt has increased this year (many Americans are feeling the pinch). It was my contention that if I am paying as agreed that they should honor their obligation. I further stated that I belong to a Credit monitoring service and my credit score is 716. So although my debt had increased ALL of my accounts have been paid as agreed no late payments, no defaults, no judgments and definitely no bankruptcy. Although this supervisor was respectful and explained things more clearly he was not helpful in overturning the decrease in my line. In fact, his position was that there was nothing I could do about it. That the Bank can do as they feel.

I believe this bank is part of the problem with the economy today. They practice predatory lending by charging ridiculous fees, ridiculous interest, and longer payback durations and loaning additional money so they can earn a commission and then do not follow through with their end of the obligation. After speaking to the supervisor, I asked since they changed the terms without notification and since now I have no access to funds and since they reduced my line, could I change the payback terms to a shorter duration so the interest would be less and I could pay it off faster. You don't need me to tell you the answer. They claimed, if I wanted to change my payback terms on the lower line of $34.5 I would have to restart my loan as if it were day one( accruing more fees) They even stated well, why don't you pay it in full and then quoted me a payoff amount. Bank of America is changing the rules in the middle of the game. They want the banking customer to follow through with their contractual obligation but they are changing the terms as they see fit.

I will be following up with my Congressman, with Consumer Affairs and if need be the Senate. Since they are the ones bailing out the banks and giving them the power to do as they will to hard working Americans. In my opinion, bail out funds should be revoked from this bank and this bank should be audited!.

I am a New York City School Teacher and I will be sure to warn members of the UFT, members of the Dept of Education, colleagues and anyone else who will listen.....PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE BEWARE OF BANK OF AMERICA. They are ripping off hard working Americans to line their greedy pockets.

If anyone knows of anyone else I can contact or perhaps a class action suit against this bank please let me know. This is a fight I will not back down from. I will write President Obama if I have to.

Our hard earned money and credit ratings should not be at the mercy of any bank establishment.
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Bank of America, Making Home Affordable: BEWARE, it's a SCAM!!!

Posted by Susan on 01/28/2011

My husband and I are retired military. My husband is disabled due to a brain injury in Iraq. This is an account of how Bank of America uses the making home affordable program as a scam to get your home. It started when my husband had retired, his disability income had not come in yet and we were having difficulty making our monthly mortgage payments. Though we were not behind, we talked to representatives at b of a and they suggested we apply for the making home affordable plan. For the next few months we faxed, fed ex'd, and phoned our information that they requested over 10 times. Also during that time they said I could no longer make my payments over the computer and that I would have to either mail in or phone in my payments. So each month, I would call in, ask what I needed to pay, and they would give me a figure which I would then give them my debit card info. For a few months they advised me that I needed to make trial payments which were $200 less than my regular mortgage payment. After a few months they started to inform me that I was behind. So I began to call every 2 weeks as they instructed to get a status and was told that I was behind due to them putting the partial payment into a holding account. However, when they started telling me that I was behind I started making my regular loan payment amount plus extra to make up the past due amount. Then we got a call saying that we were in foreclosure and that they could sell our home as early as the next morning. Scared I made some phone calls and got hooked up with Nova Debt. After speaking with them and having the representative from b of a on a 3 way call....we got the run around some more, they kept telling us conflicting information, but then assured me that I was not in foreclosure and that if I continued to make my regular monthly payments plus extra to chip away at the past due, I would not go into foreclosure. Well, that was last month. As of 1/25/11 I was informed that my home had gone into foreclosure and they would not accept anything from me other than the total amount past due plus lawyer fee's and that they would have to order those figures and will fax them to me in 3 business days. So basically, after working with b of a for 1 year, calling each month, doing as they instructed, and never getting the same information twice, I am now in foreclosure and have to come up with a large sum of money next week to keep my home. This is very disturbing to me that they would treat one of our nation's disabled vets is such a dishonest manner. Keep in mind that we never missed a single months payment and only did what they instructed us to do and now they are trying to take a home away from a retired vet with a brain injury. B of A has left a really bad taste in my mouth and the fact that they are using the making home affordable plan as a front to steal from honest Americans and take their homes from them is extremely foul on so many levels. Please, email me with your comments, I would love to discuss this with someone.

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Making Home Affordable is a Scam!

Posted by Cebikin on 01/13/2010

I started my process in April 2009 and have been getting the same run around as everyone else. They recommended that I pay half my mortgage for 3 months as part of a 3 month trial period prior to beginning the Making Home Affordable process. After the 3 month trial period was completed in August, I received a very nice letter from the Sr VP of the Home Retention Division who seemed excited to assist me and recommended I call them right away to get started with the MHA! Yeah! It has been a nightmare ever since... I gave them my financial info over the phone, three months later I was told I was supposed to fax it and then later I was told to mail it. I have over 30 phone calls to date trying to get qualified. In December, I finally had an agent assigned who told me I needed to set up an escrow for taxes and insurance in order to proceed with the qualification process. On December 28th I was denied qualification due to an agent error who doubled up my mortgage and car loan payments which created an excessive monthly expense and thus disqualified me. They are now in process (supposedly) of re-reviewing my qualification after recognizing the error. Here's the kicker... Due to the erroneous disqualification they have done the following: a)sent me a letter demanding payment of my 3 month half mortgage balance due by January 27th or default; b)blocked my access to my mortgage information on-line with a notification that I am delinquent on my December and January mortgage payments and will go into default if not paid by February 11; c) calling me daily via automated voice response saying I am delinquent and need to remit payment immediately; and d) best of all, they have erroneously doubled my escrow amount on my next mortgage payments. Bottom line, instead of assisting me with a reduced mortgage payment they have made matters worse by increasing my payment with an erroneous escrow. All they care about is BAC profits - I got nothing and now they're going to hold my money all year for escrow and make 20%+ interest on some other poor soul. I GOT DUPED!!!

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Life work destroyed!

Posted on 08/24/2009

My home, my entire lifetime of working a minimum of an 80 hour work weeks, taking our first vacation only 7 years back going to NYC after 911,and for the last 35 years, is in ruins.

The catalyst was Bank of America.

Heck, my 20 plus year Premier checking account that I have closed 4 times now, is still open accumulating fees as we speak!

I was considered one their "most valuable customers".

My mother worked banking her whole life. I was brought up to believe the people within those vaulted walls were the most honorable and integrable people, and could always be trusted!

From the "I am so sorry, though you have never been late" letters to raise interest rates from 3 and 5 percent to 30 percent, to transferring payments on my home back into my checking which had us fearing to deposit monies to pay our bills through them, especially those they had with us that were mysteriously were not canceled on my overdrafted protected account via auto pays, when they attacked us because of their unwise executive decisions, has left me hopeless and in ruins! I feel like such a failure, a loser, and without any faith in our nations banking industry.

I worried about my credit rating! To me it was vital to survive and not to be messed with. I was also so proud of the numbers, jointly and individually as a woman, that we scored.

How ironic, I was someone who 'paid it forward' so to speak, from getting an Iraqi war vet's mom a home and many other single parent families, that I will soon be homeless myself! At my age, with the economy as it is, and having only my hard work ethics to offer, finding employment to rebuild, is near impossible.

I paid my bills always on time and never the minimum that is required. Between Bank of America, Discover and Chase, (I won't share what the insurance companies contributed, we have discovered there is a loophole for all the extra protection's sold to us in order to prepare for the shaky economy to keep us viable, I have no more faith.

Loan sharks are more honorable. Definitely less costly!

I would like to share my experiences with them to a lawyer or Congressmen who will look at my documentation of events that had led us to bankruptcy and giving up our family home!

I never asked anyone in my life for a handout, accept personal responsibility for my actions but was no match against Bank of America's pirates. Besides letters written and received, emails and online records (scanned before I was denied access to my own accounts online btw), phone calls and a years work of documentation, I would like them to get what they deserve.

Whether it helps my family, doesn't seem as important anymore. But the rage, the anger, the bitterness and how it has effected me personally, I need closure.

A closure that cannot be done until the despicable, UnAmerican, TREASONOUS actions of Bank of America is investigated!

I cannot believe that this could happen in our country! From the phone calls from India on Christmas Eve when only 10 days late, a first and the result of the games they played on us previous robbing us of months of income for service charges, all the while going through chemo, which was what I think when I told them in preparation to insure timely payments via auto debits. It's like they red flagged me after that!

Imagine with all the offices they have, and if 1 percent of their customers who cared about their credit scores, if held hostage because the thinking they will pay to protect those scores and were treated this way, the kind of money Bank of America made!

Sure, I admit, times were lean and extra funds were almost bare. But, we lived "lean and mean" and were more than willing to eat cereal for supper before not paying our bills. We would do without phones, cable, whatever, before not paying our bills.

Not even, 4 years back, when my husband endured lung cancer, we left the hospital debt free but then they were not told! It does make me wonder if being so truthful and honest, led to our downfall.

We even sold all we could, canceled my health insurance in order to keep our credit stable! Nothing was ever enough!

Every penny was robbed on an account with overdraft protection.

The first banking error, when addressed at the local branch instead of the faceless customer service, gave us back half and assured us that all auto payments, 100% monthly bills paid on 1st to insure they got paid, was to be stopped.

Another lie.

Even after we left them, they re opened the checking account.

I hope there is karma for those so called "geniuses" rewarded so well and they get what they deserve. They destroyed this country and someday my grand kids will read about this rape on middle class America by the bank that shares our nation's name in school and in the history books. That is if this country isn't ruined by such deceit!

It hard to realize, your entire life was for nothing! That you feel like such a loser! It hard to believe that the only thing I ever wished for, that my grand kids be secure, is gone.

I do not wish this on anyone. Can anyone help advise us on who is brave enough to take them on?